Magnolia looked like a fucking ghost town when Gajeel and Natsu strolled through it, their murderous auras alone scaring all the locals into hiding. The pair decided (in other words just Gajeel) that the first thing they needed to do was make a list of people and places to visit in order to get some answers.

So here they were, the rough and tough dragon slayers of Fairy Tail, sitting at a tea house with a pen and pencil.

Sipping on coffee.

"This shit is stupid! Why don't we just do whatever we think of first?!" Natsu growled, cracking the mug he was currently holding.

Gajeel grunted at his partner's ignorance, throwing his coffee all over the fire-eater.

"We're making this fucking list because with your attention span, we'd end up repeating the first two things we do over and over. In other words: WE WOULDN'T GET SHIT DONE!"

He did a very good job of leaving himself out of that excuse. Gajeel knew Natsu wouldn't notice.

Natsu shook off as much of the fluid off himself as he could, shooting a glare at Gajeel.

"Whatever. Let's just make this stupid thing and get to work. The faster we figure this out, the faster our girls are safe."

The pair were overcome with depression then.

It was killing them. Knowing that their women were suffering in a way they didn't understand. It made matters worse when they had to admit to themselves how ashamed they were that they couldn't even ease that suffering.

Sighing, Gajeel immediately started jotting down what they needed to do.

Interrogate ALL enemies (yours, flame-brain's, and the girls. If they got nothing, beat the shit out of them)

Consult every dream interpreter you can get your hands on (and by consult you mean threaten them till they give you answers. If they got nothing, beat the shit out of them)

Go to shorty's room and read through all her books. She's bound to have SOMETHING that can help us out)

He frowned and erased shorty, quickly replacing it with "Levy" before he continued on the list.

Make sure the idiot doesn't burn any of Levy's books. She'll have your balls hung on a mantle when she wakes up.

Gajeel didn't know what to put for five. He knew that they probably needed to do something, but it was escaping his thoughts just as he was about to catch it.

"We should probably talk to Sting and Shade. They're dragon slayers too. They might have mates of their own" Natsu suggested, finishing his drink in one swig.

Gajeel just looked at him in shock.

"You actually have a brain in that head of yours? I thought it was just hot air in there."

"Hey! Are you calling me stupid?!"

Gajeel snickered as he wrote down five, wondering if he should answer Natu's question honestly.

"We'll continue this later hot-head. For now, let's get to work. I don't think there's anything else left to do."

Natsu looked like he wanted to protest, but flashing through his mind was the image of Lucy's smiling face changing to the comatose-version of her he'd last seen, his mouth snapped shut and he nodded in agreement.

"Another time."

With their decision made, Natsu and Gajeel stood from their seats and threw down money before strolling off.

"Who should we talk to first?" Natsu inquired.

Gajeel thought for a moment before stating "We'll start with bunny- er, Lucy's enemies. Levy's too much of a push-over to have any, but I'll still check with her idiots just in case."

Natsu nodded in agreement.

"Alright. Then let's start with the first enemy she made when she joined the guild: Duke Everlue."

"Sounds good to me."

"Well that was a total bust" Natsu grumbled.

They'd just stepped out of what USED to be the duke's prison cell with no information, leaving said person bloodied on the floor.

Not dead; just thoroughly beaten against walls and ceilings and such.

. . . Okay, so he might be in a coma, but that doesn't matter right now!

Gajeel grunted his agreement, wiping his hands clean with a towel one of the guards so generously offered him.

"Who's next on the list?"

Natsu sighed as he began to wrack his brain for a name.

"So she might not have as many enemies as I thought" he admitted, awkwardly scratching the back of his head.

The iron dragon slayer could only snort at his partner's stupidity.

"Fine. Let's start going after your enemies then. Anyone in particular coming to mind?"

"You?"

"Dib-shit. I'm a rival. There's a difference."

"So Gray's off that list too then. . . "

"Why would either of us do this to the girls?! You can't honestly be that stupid!"

"Quit fucking calling me stupid!"

They were nose to nose now, growling like the beasts they took after as their muscles tensed for a possible attack.

It was the best nature show ANYONE could watch.

Gajeel sighed in annoyance and pulled away, Natsu doing the same.

"We're not gonna get anywhere if we keep arguing like this" He reasoned.

Natsu hated to admit this to himself, but he knew Gajeel was right.

"Let's just keep our insults to ourselves till we get all this resolved" the fire eater muttered.

He hated putting fights on hold, but they weren't in the kind of situation where he had a choice. Not unless he felt like risking his Lucy.

They both became depressed again as they thought of their mates.

"Let's just keep going" they stated in unison.

The pair eyed each other with surprise at first, not used to actually agreeing at once, but grinned stupidly and made their way to their next victim.

Poor sap didn't know what was coming to him. . .

Two days and a ton of useless idiots later, Natsu and Gajeel found themselves in Levy's room, going through her books.

Unfortunately, neither of them knew how she had the place organized.

"I think I'm in Erza's section" Natsu announced, putting what looked like an erotic novel back on the shelf with a queasy expression on his face.

Gajeel was irritated. He'd gone through half of Levy's books (thanks to a very special pair of glasses), but he still couldn't find any answers to their predicament. He didn't know how much more of this he could take.

"Oi! I'm talking to you!"

A book collided with the agitated beast with so much force, he actually fell backward.

"What the fuck?! What's yer problem?!" Gajeel roared, sitting back up as he shot the grinning assailant his most powerful glare.

"You were ignoring me. I had to get your attention somehow."

"Did ya find anything?"

"No."

"Did ya have a bright idea to fix this mess?"

"No?"

Gajeel's vision was starting to look a bit red. "Then I don't give a flying fuck what you have to say! I'm tired and I'm pissed; a dangerous combination for anyone that fucks with me right now. So keep whatever useless thoughts you have to yourself and get back to reading before I pop your head off. Got it?!" His threat was empty, but the fire-eater didn't need to know that.

Natsu sighed in defeat and roamed about the books, trying to find anything with dragons on it. It wasn't that he'd forgotten about their predicament. The poor boy just didn't know how else to cope with his depression. He felt that the girls wouldn't want them killing themselves over the situation and wanted to bring some light into it. He knew he couldn't think clearly when he was angry or depressed, so what else was he supposed to do? He'd be utterly useless if he didn't mess around a little. . .

"Oi, flame-brain! Did you even look at the book ya threw at me?" Gajeel's voice interrupted his thoughts, snapping him back to reality as he looked up at the gruff man.

"Uh, no. Why?"

"It's got something interesting in it about dragon slayers."

Natsu was across the room in seconds, reading the book carefully. The information in it could prove vital.

Religion #375: Danaism.

Danaism is the worship of the great goddess, Danari, who was born a mortal woman. This religion dates back nearly 1 million years, but the ancient society that practiced its sacred rights, is no more. Among the legends that were thoroughly translated (as the society proved to be so secretive, most of their scrolls and scripts were in code, proving very difficult to study this cult), Danari earned her divinity by devouring the flesh of an evil dragon that had raged war against the gods. As their savior, she was blessed by their divine light and joined them as masters of the universe.

Danari discovered that she'd acquired very dragon-like features and abilities, and used those qualities to do a great service for the world. She made the fires in homes warmer so that no one would ever be cold, she made wind when she beat her mighty wings, allowing the hard workers to bask in the refreshing air, etc.; All small things that went a long way, suggesting that the religion taught how even the simple things could make grand changes.

The rituals and rights of this belief are unknown to us, but considering how far back it dates, it's not hard to believe there may have been sacrifices in her name, most likely in the form of young women.

Despite Danari being a dragon goddess, nearly none of her worshipers were dragon slayers, contrary to popular belief. Instead, the Danarians considered the dragon slayers to be abominations of their great goddess, seeking only to mimic her power and claim divinity, so they became natural enemies.

"This isn't giving us much" Natsu stated, furrowing his brow. "But we might actually have some kind of lead."

Gajeel raised a curious brow. "Really? What's it say?"

Natsu handed the book over to Gajeel so he could read for himself. It only took a couple of seconds (he was glad Levy had bought him the glasses) before he shut the book and glanced up at Natsu.

"These guys don't exist anymore."

"Wrong. The REAL guys don't exist anymore. A religion can't die and you know it" Natsu retorted.

The iron dragon slayer was impressed with Natsu's reasoning and said "So it's possible that a new society might've spawned, and if that's the case, they're natural enemies of us dragon slayers."

They grinned proudly.

"Looks like we've got a crazy religion to un-earth; let's start with the author" Natsu stated.

"Agreed."

Hey Hey everybody! Miss me?! I sure missed you! I finally got a new computer and less hours at work, so guess what that means?

FINALLY UPDATING THIS STORY!

Are you all excited, because I certainly am! Anyone wanna take some wild guesses on how the story will progress? Please do so! I freakin love you guys and am so moved by the feedback you give me! It makes me eager to write more of this story! 3

Well, I've gotta go for now, but expect an updated next week! :D